Winners at the One Day Rapid Play Tournament with their Cash
Prizes and Trophies

CHRISTOPHER Raphael, 14-year-old St Mary’s student, added
another trophy to his growing collection when he topped the
U20 section of the Rapid Play tournament held at St
Augustine Girls High School on Friday, March 30th.
Christopher, a fomer national U14 champion, scored 4.5
points in the five-round event.

Chirstopher receiving his 1st Place Trophy from

Quintin Cabralis, President of Kings and Queens
Chess Club

He won his first major tournament in 2005 when he outplayed
the U14s at the Junior Orange Bowl event in Miami. Last year
he took first prize in the U20 division of the Orchard Grand
Prix contest and took third place at the Sagicor Barbados
Junior Tournament.

The contest, which launched the 2007 tournament calendar of
the T&T Chess Foundation, attracted a total of 79 players
from all parts of Trinidad. It was played in three
divisions, U20 which was also an Open section, U14 and
Novices.

Edison Raphael, president of the T&TCF, said he was pleased
with the response to the tournament and looked forward to
presenting another successful year of chess activity for
junior players.

Among the U20s, three players scored 3.5 points, Kiran
Maharaj of Trinity East, Marcus Joseph, of Fatima, current
U20 national champion, and Jayson Paul, third form student
of Queen’s Royal College. Kevin Cupid won the special prize
for emerging the best U16 player in this division.

Kiran Maharaj of Trinity East

National Champion Marcus Joseph Receives his 3rd
place Trophy

In the U14 section, with 40 players, Prithvi Ramakrishnan
had a perfect score, winning all his five games. Four other
players, Melissa Pereira, Jarryon Paul, Adrian Davis,
Michael Richards and Peter Sui, finished on four points.

Prithvi Ramakrishnan winner Under 14

Special prizes were awarded to Rhea Eccles for the best
score among the U12s and to Prithvi’s younger brother,
Prasanna, for the best U10 performance.
The Ramakrishnan boys are showing consistent promise. They
are both Orchard Grand Prix champions, Prithvi among the
U14s and Prasanna among the U10s. Last year, they both won
the Foundation’s Orchard Grand Prix tournament in their
respective sections. Prasanna topped the U10 section in the
Sagicor Junior tournament in Barbados while Prithvi finished
among the first ten in the Miami Junior Orange Bowl event in
2004 nd 2005.

A total of 28 enthusiastic novices took part in the
tournament, with eight-year-old Mahendra Singh of the Curepe
Presbyterian School emerging the winner with a perfect score
of 7 out of 7.

Mahendra Singh Receives his 1st place trophy form
Rawlson Paul

The sons of Mr and Mrs Naroutan Singh, Mahendra and his
older brother Vishnu, 11, started playing and studying the
game under the Foundation just a few months ago and
Mahendra’s victory demonstrates the progress he has made.

Their father, Naroutan, said he was happy that his boys are
enjoying the sport of chess as they are learning many
lessons, including how to handle defeat. He has also
observed an improvement in their mental ability since they
began playing chess. “They seem to be able to think faster
and more clearly,” he said.

Second among the novices was Vivek Mathanji of Naparima
College with 6 points while two players finished on 4, Jevon
Lewis of Rosary Boys and Whitney Jackson of SAGHS.